Rivers Crisis: Agbakoba Highlights Constitutional Restrictions on Cross-Carpeting

A senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mr Olisa Agbakoba has restated that only factionalization of a political party can justify the defection of its elected members to another platform.

He said this while reacting to the political tension in Rivers State over the plot by the 27 defected lawmakers to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Recalls that in the peak of the crisis in the state, 27 lawmakers loyal to Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the platform under which they were elected, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Speaking to reporters, Agbakoba, said the only people constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of impeaching a sitting governor are validly elected members of the State Assembly.

“So, what I’m trying to point out is that, are these 27 members who have crossed from PDP to APC actually validly members of the Rivers State House of Assembly? There is a constitutional restriction on cross-carpeting,” he declared.

The senior lawyer added that the ground to impeach a governor is enshrined in the impeachment rules in the constitution, stressing that a governor can only be impeached for gross misconduct.

According to him, “Whether the governor is impeachable for gross-misconduct or not, is a matter that has a process. The whole thing is whether the 27 men have the impeachable grounds. You cannot impeach a governor for misbehaving in his house but in the context of his activity as a governor.”